MasukAuthor's Note: Isla's built something real and now it's threatening vampire power. Mordaunt's spy watches, reports, recommends elimination. Because organized packless wolves are dangerous. Because community challenges control. Isla knows the threat and keeps going anyway because seventy-four wolves need help. That's the choice. Stop and let wolves die, or continue and probably get killed by a vampire lord. She chooses to continue. Some people can't stop helping even when it's suicide. If you enjoyed this story LIKE it and add to your library. Also VOTE for it so it will be shared with more readers. — J
CALLUMI'm frozen mid-punch. Fist extended toward Cormac's face. Six inches away. Couldn't connect. The spell hit first.I can see. Can hear. Can think. Can't move.Paralysis. Complete. Magical. Unbreakable.Around me, everyone's frozen. Valentina mid-shot. Tom mid-spell. Fae warriors mid-swing. Every fighter on the battlefield locked in place.Hermetic Order mages walking through us. Examining. Cataloging. Marking.Professor Fell approaches me. Studies my face. Smiles."Callum Brennan. Excellent specimen." He pulls out magical tag. Attaches it to my chest. I can feel it burning through my shirt. "Wolf-001. Priority subject. High-value genetic material."I try to speak. Can't. Mouth won't move. Throat paralyzed.Fell moves to Cormac. Frozen three feet away. Fist also extended. We were killing each other when the spell hit."Cormac Brennan. Alpha wolf. Also valuable." Fell tags him. "Wolf-002. Priority subject. Control study comparison with specimen 001."Cormac's eyes are moving. Furi
SIBYLThe vision hits me like lightning. I'm standing at the edge of the battlefield. Non-combatant. Observer. Seer.Then suddenly I'm everywhere. All times. All possibilities. All futures colliding in my mind.I see:Future One: Parliamentary hunters overwhelm the Rookeries. Everyone dies. Bodies piled. Hermetic Order collects corpses. Mass experimentation on the dead. London's supernatural community crushed permanently.Future Two: Callum kills Cormac. Wolves rally. Drive back Parliamentary forces. Victory. But the cost: Callum dies from wounds. Valentina dies covering his retreat. Isla dies treating casualties. Everyone I love: dead. Victory is ashes.Future Three: Hermetic Order spell activates. Everyone captured. Both sides. Wolves, vampires, fae, dragons. All become experimental subjects. Imprisoned. Studied. Bred. Used. Living death worse than actual death.Future Four: They escape. Somehow. Retreat before the trap closes. Survive. But lose everything. Rookeries burned. Communi
LORD VERMITHRAXI watch the Rookeries battle from three miles away. Excellent view. Binoculars provide detail. Magical scrying shows energy flows.Dragons don't pick sides in wolf-vampire conflicts. We observe. We profit. We wait.My subordinate approaches. "Sir, the battle's been ongoing for two hours. Casualty estimates?""Over a hundred dead. Roughly equal losses both sides." I adjust the scrying mirror. "Wolves are dying slightly faster but not significantly.""Do we intervene?""No. Let them bleed. We profit more from their weakness.""How?"I smile. Pull out property deeds. "The Rookeries district. Forty buildings. Three hundred apartments. Warehouses. Businesses. All currently owned by packless wolves or sympathetic humans.""Who are dying on the battlefield.""Exactly. As they die, ownership becomes uncertain. Estates go to probate. Properties become available." I start signing foreclosure documents. "We've been buying the mortgages for months. Below market value. Now we call
PROFESSOR CORNELIUS FELLThe laboratory is beneath the British Museum. Three levels underground. Climate controlled. Magically warded. Perfect conditions for experimentation.I'm examining the bodies collected from the Rookeries battle. Fifteen specimens so far. My mages are efficient. Collecting during chaos. Transporting while everyone's distracted.Body one: Young wolf. Female. Seventeen years old. Turned six months ago. Still has human memories. Perfect for cognition studies.Body two: Hybrid child. Male. Three years old. Werewolf-human cross. Rare. Valuable. Dead from crossfire.Body three: Dhampir. Female. Twenty-one years old. Valentina Corvino's cousin apparently. Died fighting vampires.Wait. She's not dead.I check vitals. Weak pulse. Shallow breathing. Critically wounded but alive.Even better. Living specimens are more valuable than corpses.I preserve her in magical stasis. Healing her enough to survive but keeping her unconscious. She'll wake in my facility. Become perma
TOMThe fae magic burns through me. I'm maintaining defensive wards while fighting. Dual-tasking that's killing me slowly.Left hand: holding magical barrier protecting our east flank. Thirty wolves behind it staying alive because of my concentration.Right hand: throwing fae-blessed daggers at vampire hunters. Silver and cold iron. They die screaming.I'm exhausted. The magic battle with Professor Fell three days ago nearly killed me. I shouldn't be fighting. Should be recovering.But everyone's fighting. Everyone's dying. Can't sit out.A vampire charges through my barrier. Impossible. My wards are Seelie-crafted. Nothing should penetrate.I kill him with a dagger to the eye socket. But the breach is concerning.My wards shouldn't fail.I examine the magical structure while dodging gunfire. The barrier is intact. Not broken. Not weakened.But something's interfering. External force pressing against my magic.I expand my senses. Fae-touched can see magic like others see light. Thread
SILASI watch from the rooftop. Non-combatant. Observer. Recorder of history.This is what I do. Document death. Keep records. Ensure nothing is forgotten.My notebook is open. I'm writing as fast as I can.7:04 AM - First death. Vampire hunter (designation V-12). Shot by Marie Castellano. Silver bullet to chest.7:05 AM - Second death. Wolf fighter (designation W-03, name: James Moreau). Incinerated by dragon fire.7:06 AM - Third death. Fae warrior (designation F-07). Beheaded by vampire hunter.The count rises. Fast. Brutal.By 7:15 AM, I've recorded twenty-three wolf deaths. Fifteen vampire hunters. Three fae warriors.Forty-one dead in eleven minutes.This isn't battle. It's massacre. Both sides bleeding out.I document everything. Who killed whom. How they died. Where they fell.Someone needs to remember. When this is over, when survivors tell stories, they'll forget details. Misremember. Create myths.I provide truth. Exact. Detailed. Undeniable.7:18 AM - Wolf fighter (W-22, n







